SAN JOSE, Calif. — Joe Thornton had a goal and an assist during a second-period scoring flurry and the San Jose Sharks beat the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 Monday night for their fifth straight victory.

San Jose snapped a scoreless tie with three goals in a span of 2:13 against Canucks goaltender Cory Schneider, then held on and completed a season sweep of Vancouver.

The Canucks got goals from Chris Higgins and Alexandre Burrows to provide some suspense.

“You look at all the good teams and they are scoring three goals a game,” Higgins said.

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“We can’t expect to win scoring twice. We did a pretty good job of keeping them off the scoresheet for a while. We were looking for a spark in the first period and we didn’t get it and then they score three quick goals.”

Vancouver has lost its last two games. The Canucks were defeated 4-0 Saturday in Edmonton after winning their previous six.

The Sharks dominated the first period, outshooting Vancouver 14-6, but couldn’t convert a couple of prime opportunities.

“We did what we had to do to keep it tight,” Canucks coach Alain Vigneault said. “In the second period, they jumped on a couple of bouncing pucks and put them into the back of the net.”

Trade speculation continues to swirl around Sharks forward Ryane Clowe, who was a healthy scratch, but the Sharks are grabbing enough attention for what is happening on the ice. They remain in the No. 6 playoff position in the Western Conference and trail Los Angeles by one point for the fifth spot and the Canucks by two points for fourth.

“We’re trying to catch some teams now,” Thornton said.

“Winning feels pretty good. It’s contagious and as long as we put a good effort, we feel like we can win every night.”

Andrew Desjardins beat Schneider from the left side at the 7:41 mark to snap a scoreless tie, and less than a minute later Thornton outfought a Canucks player for a loose puck just inside the blue line and converted a wrister for a 2-0 lead.